Diplomat row: US holds back staff salary details

A file photo of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York. (Reuters)

India is ready to harden its stand against the US authorities “dragging their feet” on providing information about names and salaries of Indians working at the embassy and its four consulates in New Delhi.

The external affairs ministry had sought the information from the US authorities in the wake of the ill treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade on the charges of visa fraud and underpaying her nanny.

The idea behind seeking this information was apparently to find out whether the US is paying its Indian staff in embassies and consulates as per its laws.

Since the Khobragade row also involves her being charged for not paying her nanny the US minimum wages, New Delhi was keen to know whether Indian staffers working in US missions here — which are US territories — are being paid the minimum wages as per American law.

The deadline for submitting these details, including the names and salaries of those working as helps in the households of US diplomats and other officials, was December 23, but the US has sought more time.

Khobragade has submitted that she paid the nanny $1,560 a month (in line with US labour laws) and suggested that the US authorities had goofed up, mistaking her $4,500 salary in the nanny’s visa form as the latter’s salary.